Ukranian Game Show features Anti-Israel 'Blood Libel'

Contestant claims to have been former IDF canine unit soldier, killed Arab children.

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Tova Dvorin, 26/11/13 10:10

Military dog

Israel news photo: Flash 90

A Ukrainian game show which challenges contestants to beat a lie detector test has been the latest source of anti-Israel lies, respected blogger Elder of Ziyon reports. An episode earlier this month, quoted by Palestinian Arab news agency Ma'an, featured a woman who claimed to be a former IDF soldier and said she had killed "countless" Palestinian Authority (PA) Arab children as part of her IDF service.

Ma'an reports that the woman, Elena Zakusilo, also known as Elena Gluzman, claimed on the nationally broadcast television program that she killed "countless" PA children during the chaos that followed the death of PA chairman Yasser Arafat in 2004, and also allegedly trained dogs for reconnaissance missions into PA towns.

However, Ma'an also admits that the entire premise for its claim is based on a translation of a PA blogger - the accuracy of which is unverified.

The program aired earlier this month.

Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic websites - e.g. the white supremacy site Stormfront - have been focusing intensely on the story, as alleged proof of Israeli "atrocities."

Elder of Ziyon contextualizes the video, pointing out that only one person was reportedly killed by IDF forces during the riots following Yasser Arafat's death - and that person was not a child. This fact has already been admitted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights website. In addition, very few IDF killings have been carried out by female combat soldiers, and any such event would have been widely reported in Israeli media.

Also, Zakusilo claims that the dogs were controlled with an extremely high-tech video system that would record the dogs' movements through PA settlements. Canine units in Israel exist, but no such technology has ever been reported. Rather, most dogs are trained for bomb sniffing, defense exercises, and other typical K9 programs. Zakusilo claims that the technology is ten years old, but EoZ notes that search results for the phenomenon come back empty.

Zakusilo's stories about her personal position in the IDF are also inconsistent. She claims to have been in charge of attack dog training, but is also somehow involved in the shooting deaths of several PA Arabs, according to her own report. EoZ declares that the likelihood of a K9 officer being assigned to single-handedly take down a rioter is very low.

Both mainstream Israeli media and the Russian-language social media sources in Israel remain extremely skeptical of the story. The IDF has not released a statement yet regarding the story.